No. 3 Gulf Coast’s season ends in regional loss

EUNICE, La. – No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast's season came to a disappointing end Saturday on the second day of the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament.

The Lady Bulldogs' defense came undone in a 7-3 loss to East Central in an elimination game.

"You don't ever want anything as good as this year has been to end," Gulf Coast coach Kenneth Long said. "You certainly don't want it to end on a loss like this, but I hope everybody understands what this team is about all year."

Gulf Coast finishes the season 45-7, with the highly decorated sophomore class compiling 91 wins in their two years at Perkinston. The Lady Bulldogs finished 46-13 on the way to a ninth-place finish in the national tournament last year.

The Lady Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead in the second inning on a Molly Murphy squeeze bunt, an infield single by Kaitlin Lee and another squeeze by Alyssa Hardy.

East Central got back into it in the third, though, fueled by four two-out errors by the Lady Bulldogs that left the score tied.

The Lady Warriors took the lead in the third, again aided by a two-out error. It opened the door for two more runs, and they added another in the fifth with a two-out double, the only earned run Gulf Coast gave up.

Nora Keehn (14-2) took the hard-luck loss, allowing just three hits in 2.2 innings.

Gulf Coast managed only four hits, but Long wanted to highlight all the good things his 2016 team did on the way to 45 wins.

"The wins and the success and what we did, nobody should take anything away from this team at all," he said.